麻豆传媒

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THEY might be ancient graffiti tags left by a worker or symbols of religious significance. A robot has sent back the first images of markings on the wall of a tiny chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt that have not been seen for 4500 years. It has also helped settle the controversy about the only metal known to exist in the pyramid, and shows a 鈥渄oor鈥� that could lead to another hidden chamber.

The pyramid is thought to have been built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu, and is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing. It contains three main chambers: the Queen鈥檚 Chamber, the Grand Gallery and the King鈥檚 Chamber, which has two air shafts connecting it with the outside world. Strangely, though, there are two tunnels, about 20 centimetres by 20 centimetres, that extend from the north and south walls of the Queen鈥檚 Chamber and stop at stone doors before they reach the outside of the pyramid (see diagram).

鈥淭he discovery of metal pins sparked speculation they were parts of a power supply built by aliens鈥�

The function of these tunnels and doors is unknown, but some believe that one or both could lead to a secret chamber. , Egypt鈥檚 Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, describes the doors as the last great mystery of the pyramid.

Several attempts have been made to explore the tunnels using robots. In 1993, a robot crawled some 63 metres up the tunnel in the south wall and discovered what appeared to be a small stone door set with metal pins. Metal is not part of any other known structure in the pyramid, and the discovery ignited speculation that the pins were door handles, keys or even parts of a power supply constructed by aliens.

鈥淩ed-painted graffiti is common around Giza. It is often masons鈥� or work-gangs鈥� marks鈥�

Then in 2002 another robot drilled through the stone block and filmed a small chamber backed by a large blocking stone, but little else. Now a robot designed by engineer from the University of Leeds, UK, and colleagues, and named Djedi after the magician that Khufu consulted when he planned his tomb, has crawled up the tunnel carrying a bendy 鈥渕icro snake鈥� camera that can see around corners.

Images sent back by the camera have revealed hieroglyphs written in red paint and lines in the stone that could be marks left by stone masons when the chamber was being carved (Annales Du Service des Antiquit茅s De L鈥櫭塯ypte, vol 84, ISBN: 978-977-704-184-3). 鈥淚f these hieroglyphs could be deciphered they could help Egyptologists work out why these mysterious shafts were built,鈥� says Richardson.

鈥淩ed-painted numbers and graffiti are very common around Giza,鈥� says Peter Der Manuelian, an Egyptologist at Harvard University and director of the , Boston. 鈥淭hey are often masons鈥� or work-gangs鈥� marks, denoting numbers, dates or even the names of the gangs.鈥�

As the camera can see around corners, the back of the stone door has been observed for the first time, scotching the more fanciful theories about the metal pins, says camera-designer Shaun Whitehead of the exploration company , based in Melton Mowbray, UK. 鈥淥ur new pictures from behind the pins show that they end in small, beautifully made loops, indicating that they were more likely ornamental rather than electrical connections.鈥�

Whitehead, who worked in collaboration with in V茅lizy-Villacoublay, France, adds: 鈥淎lso, the back of the 鈥榙oor鈥� is polished so it must have been important. It doesn鈥檛 look like it was a rough piece of stone used to stop debris getting into the shaft.鈥�

, an Egyptologist at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, suspects that since the narrow tunnels can serve no practical purpose, they are almost certainly symbolic. 鈥淭he metal pins look like symbolic door handles, and the shafts from the Queen鈥檚 Chamber are oriented north-south, not east-west, so I strongly suspect that their function is symbolic and relates to the stars, not the sun,鈥� she says.

While the King鈥檚 Chamber originally contained Khufu鈥檚 sarcophagus and possibly his mummy, the Queen鈥檚 Chamber probably didn鈥檛 contain the remains of a queen: Khufu鈥檚 wives were interred in three smaller pyramids of their own. Instead, Spence speculates that the Queen鈥檚 Chamber may have contained a 鈥渒a鈥� statue of the pharaoh. In this interpretation the shafts were built to allow Khufu鈥檚 ka, or spirit, to cross to the afterlife.

As for the second 鈥渄oor鈥� at the rear of the chamber, which is rough and unfinished, Spence thinks it is simply the end of the shaft. 鈥淚t鈥檚 most likely to be a backing stone 鈥� there won鈥檛 be another chamber behind it, it makes no sense,鈥� she says. 鈥淗owever, it鈥檚 fascinating from a symbolic point of view, and this sort of work will allow us to get at the intention behind the construction of the pyramid.鈥�

Hawass, director of the Djedi project, says that no other pyramid is known to have a tunnel and doorway like this, which, he says, suggests there could be a hidden room. 鈥淭he King鈥檚 Chamber may have been a dummy room, since the most important thing in the mind of the ancient Egyptians was to hide the burial chamber,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have a story that the magician Djedi met Khufu, who was searching for the god Thoth so he could find the secret of hiding his pyramid. Based on that maybe there is something hidden in the pyramid.鈥�